Coronavirus-related changes in operations

Communities around the world continue to be heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Guaranteeing the health, safety and smooth operations of the millions of farmers, producers and traders that continue to work through the pandemic is FLOCERT's top priority. In mid-March, FLOCERT stopped scheduling physical Fairtrade audits.

From 23 March 2020 onwards, all physical audits were amended as for the following customer groups:

Certified Traders: All physical audits scheduled until 30 June 2020 were converted into remote audits.

Certified Producers: All physical audits were postponed initially. Starting 22 April, for audits scheduled until 30 June, 2020, FLOCERT will offer remote audits with a limited scope as approved by Fairtrade International wherever possible. We will defer audits where remote auditing is not an option. Our certification analysts will inform producer organisations with upcoming audits whether their audit will be postponed or will be carried out remotely.

This crisis is unprecedented and has, as you know, an important impact on all our activities.

The current solution offered by FLOCERT is meant to provide an immediate relief to Fairtrade organisations. Our remote audit methodology hence is currently applicable only until 30 June and directed towards a small group of customers that have audits scheduled. FLOCERT currently does not offer any renewal audits or initial audits.

FLOCERT is also working on a longer term plan on how to best manage credibility concerns during the ongoing Corona pandemic.

We thank you for your understanding. Your FLOCERT certification analyst remains at your disposal for any clarifications.